We continued walking through the underground passage, moving farther away from the entrance we had passed earlier. The light that was once quite bright now began to dim, leaving long shadows on the damp stone walls. The air grew colder, piercing into the skin, as if this place had never been touched by life.
I glanced at Michelle on my back. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and unstable. A sense of worry kept haunting my thoughts. What if the poison kept spreading? What if I was too late?
"Do you really not remember anything George told you?" I asked the boy beside me. He shook his head. On the other hand, I was still confused about where to search, even though I believed George was somewhere in this underground area.
Just as I suspected—we were being followed.
I glanced back and saw two soldiers watching me. Before anything, I needed to make them lower their guard, because Michelle and the child were with me. I couldn't afford to act recklessly.
This place seemed to have no connected doors, but there were several partitions where I could hide Michelle and the boy.
"Do you like running?" I asked.
He nodded immediately.
"Yes. I like running."
"Is something wrong?" I raised my eyebrows slightly and smiled, and he returned my smile.
"You want to race me?" he asked innocently.
I nodded.
"Yes. I want to race you. Whoever reaches the end first will get a reward."
He seemed interested, so I had no choice but to keep him excited and not afraid of the situation.
The boy smiled, then began stretching.
"Alright, I accept."
He prepared himself to run, stretching his legs, while I kept glancing behind to make sure they were already in a position where they could see us.
When we were ready—
"One… two… three… run…"
We started running.
The boy seemed to really enjoy it. He ran quite fast and even mocked me.
"You're really bad at running!" he shouted loudly.
I raised both my hands, signaling him to stay quiet.
He slowed down to match my pace and looked at me as if asking what was going on, especially since there was a door in front of us.
"Fine, I won't let you win the reward…" I said loudly.
He seemed to understand the signal and responded to my words.
"You're going to lose to me," he said seriously.
When we stopped, I gestured for him to stay quiet. He understood and folded his arms, staring at me with a questioning look.
"What's really going on?" he asked softly.
I glanced back. They were still far enough, so I spoke quietly.
"Hide here. I'll take care of something."
Before he could answer, I immediately lowered Michelle from my back and placed her on the ground.
"Can you guard her?" I asked softly.
He nodded and gave a thumbs-up.
"Did something happen?"
I shook my head, signaling him to stay quiet.
"If you can guard her, I'll leave her with you. I'll only be gone for a moment."
He gently grabbed my clothes and looked at me with a worried expression.
"You're not going to leave me here, right?"
I nodded again. I wouldn't leave them.
"Okay… I'll trust you."
I turned around and left Michelle with the boy, walking firmly back toward the path I had come from.
Just as expected—
Two people stood before me, startled.
They swung their swords and stared at me with hatred. They wore masks, but I recognized one of them as an elf.
So they had indeed collaborated to kill me in this underground place.
But how did they get in? I had the key. Did they have another one?
"You…" they stammered, staring at me.
My necklace pulsed, indicating that a demon was approaching.
"You realized?" one of them asked.
I raised my sword.
"You think I wouldn't notice?"
"How foolish," I said.
They attacked brutally. One of them was shorter, so I easily kicked his chest, sending him crashing to the ground while clutching his chest.
The other, who seemed human and nearly my height, attacked me directly. I held my ground, not wanting to waste too much energy on them.
The sound of swords clashing echoed.
Srang
Srang
Srang
Srang
Akhh
Akhhhh
Jleb
It didn't take long to defeat them.
They wore masks, so I couldn't see their faces clearly.
I thrust my sword toward one of their chests, and he collapsed while clutching his wound. My sword fell along with him, but I drove it deeper into his heart. He screamed in pain.
The other tried to escape.
I kicked a stone beside me.
"You won't escape… take this!"
Plakkk
He fell hard.
I raised my sword again, blood splattering as it pierced through his body. Yet he still tried to tell his companion to leave.
"Go… report to the Master…"
I narrowed my eyes.
"So you can still endure?"
"Take this… jleb… akh…"
I stabbed him again. Fresh blood flowed out, the smell thick and suffocating.
I approached the shorter man. He looked at me with fear.
"Please… don't kill me…"
I stepped closer and drove my sword into his chest.
"You killed without reason… so I will kill you without reason too."
Jleb
Jleb
Jleb
Akhh
He collapsed instantly without resistance.
I looked around, unsure of what I had just done, staring at the two spies lying there.
They were wearing masks. I removed them.
Just as I thought—they were humans, and one of them was from within the clan.
"Damn… we've fallen into their trap," I muttered.
I cleaned my bloodied sword and returned to where Michelle was.
When I arrived, the ten-year-old boy immediately approached me cheerfully.
"You… I thought you were really going to leave me!" he said with a trembling voice.
I shook my head.
"Did anything happen?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing happened. I just waited."
I nodded.
"Did you check her?" I pointed at Michelle.
He nodded.
"She's definitely poisoned. We need to treat her quickly, or the poison will reach her heart."
I exhaled heavily. Until now, I still hadn't found George… nor had I seen his body.
"Let's keep moving."
I lifted Michelle onto my back again and spoke to the boy.
But he kept looking at me with that expression—I understood.
He was only ten years old.
And time was running out.
We decided to continue our journey, even though he was still hesitant. I tried to reassure him that everything would be fine.
"You're really not going to leave me here alone?" he asked again.
I nodded.
"Yes. I'll take you out of here."
"Wait… I hear the sound of swords!" he said suddenly.
I immediately stopped walking.
"Really?" I asked, trying to listen carefully—but I couldn't hear anything.
"You seriously don't hear it?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"There must be someone else here," the boy said, and without hesitation, he ran toward the direction of the sound.
I quickly rushed after him.
""Wait a minute." I shouted but he ignored me. I took a deep breath.